Albion
)]] Albion is the name of the area the Hero's epic quest took place. Albion is also the oldest recorded name of England. History The Court Reign of The Court The history of Albion is one that is constantly reforged in revolution and blood. The earliest accounts of Albion are purely legend, stating that it was a place of beauty and tranquility. Then three came from The Void: the Knight, the Jack & the Queen of Blades. They became known as "The Court". They coveted Albion and demanded that all men bow down before them. When the people of Albion refused, The Court burned Albion until the earth was black and the air was choked with smoke. They demanded obedience a second time, only to be refused again. As their next of punishment, The Court raised the ocean into the sky and flooded the land. A third time The Court demanded that men worship them, promising to usher in an age peace and end misery. But the few remaining people stood strong against The Court, and refused a third time. So The Court twisted their minds, until brother slew brother, parents abandoned children and friend killed friend. Finally the people of Albion conceded, and bowed to the court. Thus the The Reign of The Court began, where the few people who survived and their descendants toiled for many years, erecting structures and monuments to glorify those who came from the void. Birth of William Black In the days where people suffered under The Court's cruelty, a humble blacksmith and his wife had a boy. They named him William Black, and he would become the key to Albion's salvation. Little is known about William's childhood, but as a grown man he amazed many with his powers of mind, by which he was able to protect his village and perform feats that a dozen other men could not equal. These acts came to be celebrated as The Powers of Will. William eventually grew obsessed with overthrowing The Court and ending their tyrannical rule. One night when he was consulting an old and mysterious tome, he was suddenly transported into The Void. Here he met Jack, who was sat on a throne surrounded by ghastly figures. Jack attempted to enslave William with the powers of an ornate sword, but William fought back - stealing the sword and escaping safely out of the netherworld. The sword spoke to William, it called itself the Sword of Aeons, and promised to help him defeat The Court, but only if he were to offer up his soul in bondage. With the Sword of Aeons, William set off to find The Court. Fall of The Court William scaled the peak of Ruon (Albion's highest mountain) and challenged The Court to combat. The Knight of Blades was the first to appear, and with the Sword of Aeons, William destroyed him completely. Jack was the next to appear. They fiercely struck at each other, until William broke Jack's body. Jack escaped into the Void, to fight another day. The Queen was the last to appear. For weeks their battle raged across Albion. Mountains were raised and valleys were formed by their mighty blows. Finally William slew the Queen, freeing the people of Albion from their yoke. They acclaimed William, who took the title Archon, as their king. The Kingdom Rise of The Kingdom With The Court vanquished, the Archon set his mind to unifying Albion into a great Kingdom. By this time his powers of Will were so great that the world seemed to reshape itself in accordance with his wishes. Cities were built in mere weeks and marvelous machines were constructed that ran on Will alone. Through a thousand years of peace, Albion reigned as the greatest center of commerce and philosophy that world had ever known. This was their golden age. Exodus of the Archon But without any enemy to vanquish, the Archon's children, who called themselves Heroes, grew petty and cruel. They used their powers of Will, inherited from their father, to terrorize the people of Albion. A younger Archon might have stopped them, but his time in the Void and his battle of the Queen had infected his body and mind with a wasting illness. Faced with this decay, the Archon wrapped his body in gold mail and a royal blue cloak before seemingly vanishing from the land. Thus the corruption of the Kingdom began. Corruption With the Archon gone, Albion descended in anarchy. Three out of every four people were slain in the wars, or died from disease or starvation. Meanwhile, the Archon's many descendants vied for power and the kingship. These new rulers were not as kind as the first. Each passing Archon, fearful of coup, brought fresh tyranny to Albion. A giant wall was constructed around the city, to keep citizens in and undesirables out. The Archon's personal guard, who were encased in armor from birth, enforced their harsh paranoia-driven decrees: no citizens allowed out after nightfall, every citizen must appear when an alarm bell is sounded and any who opposed the Archon's rule were killed along with their families. The people witnessed these cruelties from behind masks that signaled their status while concealing their fear. Fall of The Kingdom At the pinnacle of the Kingdom, where it had grown to its greatest extent, the Archon demanded the construction of The Spire - a giant tower used to focus all the Will power in the world, to grant the user a single wish. Just after The Spire's completion the sky was filled with a bright light, and all of Albion shook. In the morning the tower was gone and the Old Kingdom lay in ruins, all its inhabitants gone, except those who lived beyond the walls. Some argue whether The Spire backfired, of if that actually fulfilled the wish of the user - to rid the Old Kingdom of corruption and start anew. Darkest Times After the fall of the Old Kingdom, the few villagers that survived fell into isolation. Distance bred suspicion, which grew into bloodshed. Villagers fought for food, land, livestock and fresh water. Soon, they were even fighting over women of child-bearing age. Mercenaries sold their sword to the highest bidder and fought in a series of petty squabbles. If they did not like the price being offered, they extracted payment by threatening villagers. The Fallow Wars begun, an age of darkness and blood, which would bring Albion very close to extinction. Human scavengers poked through the ruins of the Old Kingdom, finding and trading objects they did not understand as mere trinkets. Eventually the forest grew over the ruins. It was as if the rich heritage of Old Albion had never existed. The population dwindled, and those who survived would wake each day to a darker world. Then out of the east, hope arrived in the most unexpected of forms - a Bandit and mercenary by the name of Nostro He pledged to bring peace and prosperity to Albion, once more. The Guild Rise of Nostro In his youth, Nostro was bandit and mercenary driven by an ambition to leave his mark on the world. He was, however, not without a sense of decency, but did not reach his full potential until he met a wise old man, by the name of Scythe. Scythe was a wraith of man, wizened and stern. He carried an ornate sword and shrouded himself in the now tattered royal blue cloak and tarnished gold armor worn by the first Archon. He seemed to appear out of nowhere and took a profound interest in Nostro. Scythe saw in Nostro something more than a mere bandit. He sensed that Nostro unknowingly possessed the power that all the first Archon's descendants shared. Scythe hatched a plan: if he could properly guide Nostro, this bandit could achieve great things. He might even once again unite Albion and undo the damage done by the first Archon and his children. And so Scythe began to tutor Nostro in how to be a leader of men. Establishment of The Guild Following Scythe's counsel, Nostro set about returning and security and prosperity to Albion. First, he gathered men and women throughout Albion and founded Guild, where they could train to become real Heroes. Meanwhile Scythe tutored Nostro in the ways of Will. Using his new found power, along with Scythe's sage counsel, Nostro forced peace on the warring people of Albion. However, any hopes of restoring Albion to its former greatness were in vain. While the Guild was still taking shape, Nostro commissioned a number of other great creations. One of which was the Witchwood Arena, a giant Colosseum intended to be a venue for which anyone could settle disputes in public. At the same time, Nostro's blacksmiths forged a sword known as the Tears of Avo, patterned on reports of the Sword of Aeons, which had been lost with the Archon's disappearance. Fall of Nostro However, Nostro fell increasingly under the sway of a power-hungry courtesan named Magdalena. Eventually she corrupted Nostro to the point where the Arena was debased into a source of popular entertainment and the Heroes' Guild became nothing more than a house of mercenaries driven by a lust for profit and fame. These developments disgusted Scythe, who could only watch as Nostro and the Guild fell into disrepute. Finally he vanished, leaving Nostro to his fate. Death of Nostro Near the end of his life, Nostro could finally see how power had corrupted him, and how far short he had fallen from his youthful ideals. By then his followers and even his wife had long since abandoned him. Isolated, he was easy prey for an assassin who slipped poison into his food. Nostro knew that he was dying, so called on his old mentor Scythe, to sit vigil with him in his final hours. He died, in peace with himself, with dawn's first light. However, Nostro's spirit, discontent with the unheroic nature of his death continued to haunt the world, longing for a death that would fit his image. )]] Society The land of Albion is notably devoid of a strong system of government and laws, leading to a laissez-faire attitude for most aspects of society. Homosexuality, same-sex marriage, and polygamy are universally legal and widely accepted. Extramarital affairs, however, are taboo and the source of much contention among married couples. There is also a law that does not allow you to enter a town with unsheathed weapons as you are deemed a threat and hazard. This particular law is heavily enforced in Bowerstone; there, people are not even allowed to carry a weapon on their person. Conversely, this law is completely void in Knothole Glade Obviously, murder is considered incredibly evil as are breaking into a house, vandalism, theft, or attacking innocent civilians and guards, but the worst punishment is a fine and being thrown out of town at the same time. There are also prostitutes in Albion but it isn't explicit as to whether this is legal or not. In Fable: Lost Chapters, there is a bordello, which the player can either keep as a bordello or change into a woman's refuge. The economy is completely unregulated and based primarily on agriculture, trade, and services, with little industrial activity prevalent in the country. The currency of Albion is the gold coin, and nearly every tradable item in the land has a "national standard" of what each item is worth in gold. It should be noted, however, that items are rarely sold for their exact worth, especially in taverns and the Guild gift shop. Entertainment is provided at taverns, with their collection of beer, singers, and gambling. Also, a clandestine organization of fight clubs is prevalent in most of the major settlements, meeting solely at nighttime. There are also various games played throughout Albion, most notably Oakvale's "Chicken Kicking" contest, the Albion Fishing Competition held in Greatwood, and the Archery Contest held just outside Knothole Glade. The Arena also provides gladiatorial style combat entertainment for those who make the journey out to Witchwood. Magic, known as Will, exists in Albion, but is fairly rare in normal society. Only members of the Guild of Heroes are ever seen utilizing it. It is said in The Lost Chapters by the Snowspire Oracle that during the time of Fable, Will energy is at an all-time low, and that Will is most abundant under the temples of Skorm and Avo. Will can be harnessed to alter the physical world, such as slowing down time to inflict damage on opponents, lightning, or simply performing other useful conjurations like summoning ghost blades or creating multiple magic arrows when firing one's bow. Will also seems to have a Good and Evil balance to it. Some spells are easier or harder to learn with certain ethical alignments. These spells can only be mastered by users with the same alignment, which can be a pain for those willing to learn the last level of a spell, but are of the completely opposite alignment. Religion is based upon the worship of two deities: Avo and Skorm. Avo is a benevolent deity, worshipped in a temple in Witchwood through the giving of tithes. Skorm is a devil-like deity, demanding human sacrifices in exchange for temporal power. It is revealed by the description of the Holy Warrior and Daemon Warrior Helms found in the Northern Wastes that 200 years prior to the events of Fable, a holy war erupted between the two churches. In Fable: The Lost Chapters it is said by the Oracle that even though almost all of the inhabitants of Albion believe in Avo as god, and Skorm as a type of devil, and that gifts can be magically bestowed upon those who do their work, neither is real. The Oracle says that 400 years prior to the events of Fable, a trader uncovered two sites where Will energy was exceptionally strong: one leaning towards healing those that visited it, the other inflicting pain and thoughts of bloodlust. The trader decided that he would create two opposing temples and collect the tithes that people came to donate. Eventually, people actually came to believe in Avo and Skorm and their influence has taken an unbreakable grip on the culture of Albion's people. Despite the Oracle's statement, however, a disembodied voice can be heard scolding the player if they kill the acolytes of Avo or Skorm in their temples. Notes *For lore on Albion, see here Category:Locations